TikTok

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TikTok Search Prompts Expose Teens to Adult Content: Report

Watchdog says algorithms steered minors to explicit material, despite safeguards

(Newser) - A new investigation claims that TikTok's search algorithms have been steering 13-year-old users toward explicit content, even when using the app's "restricted mode," which is designed to filter out inappropriate material, per CNN . The watchdog group Global Witness set up seven accounts in the UK,...

Trump Signs Order on Deal to Keep TikTok Going in US

Oracle and Silver Lake to lead new US-based entity once agreement is complete

(Newser) - President Trump on Thursday signed an executive order clearing a path for TikTok to continue operating in the US. The order follows months of uncertainty after a 2024 law required ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent, to divest from the app or face a US ban. Trump's order decrees...

Teens Charged After Catastrophic Car Surfing Stunts

Authorities hope the Pennsylvania cases will deter risky social media challenges

(Newser) - Two Pennsylvania teens are facing criminal charges after separate TikTok-inspired car surfing stunts left a 17-year-old dead and a young woman with irreversible injuries. The two incidents, which prosecutors say were unrelated, both occurred in Northampton County, 80 miles north of Philadelphia. In the first case, David Nagy, 17,...

TikTok Deal Will See Oracle Oversee Algorithm

Company would also have a big stake in new US-based entity

(Newser) - The ongoing tug-of-war over TikTok's fate in the US appears to be nearing a resolution, and users shouldn't need to swap apps anytime soon. After months of back-and-forth between the Trump administration and China, a preliminary agreement has emerged that will involve Oracle overseeing TikTok's algorithm,...

Abortion Advocates Warn Online Content Is Vanishing

Clinics, others say abortion-themed posts are being censored, even if they don't violate platform policy

(Newser) - Clinics, advocacy groups, and individuals who share abortion-related content online say they're seeing informational posts being taken down, even if the posts don't clearly violate platform policies. The groups, in Latin America and the US, are denouncing what they see as censorship, even in places where abortion is...

After Meeting With Xi, Trump Has News on TikTok

Trump, WH official say 'progress' has been made on deal; Trump also says he'll meet Xi next month

(Newser) - Trump talked with Chinese leader Xi Jinping by phone on Friday in a push to finalize a deal to allow TikTok to keep operating in the US. According to the Wall Street Journal , that deal was approved, with a group of investors set to take control of the company's...

Trump Extends TikTok Deadline Yet Again
Trump Gives TikTok
Another 90 Days
Sep 16, 2025 4:10 PM CDT

Trump Gives TikTok Another 90 Days

With deal reportedly close, he extends deadline for a 4th time

(Newser) - President Trump has hit pause yet again on the nationwide TikTok ban, granting the popular video-sharing app another 90-day reprieve with an executive order signed Tuesday. This marks the fourth time Trump has held off on enforcing a law that would kick TikTok out of the United States, buying more...

US, China Reach 'Framework' to Save TikTok
Trump Hints at Deal
to Save TikTok
Sep 15, 2025 8:44 AM CDT

Trump Hints at Deal to Save TikTok

References 'a company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save,' will call Xi Friday

(Newser) - It looks like the US and China are close to a deal to keep TikTok in business for American users.
  • President Trump posted on social media Monday that a meeting between US and Chinese officials went "very well" and that they reached a deal regarding "a 'certain'
...

Man Who Asked Kirk His Last Question: 'I Dropped to the Floor'

Liberal TikTokker Hunter Kozak was asking Kirk about mass shootings before shot rang out

(Newser) - The final person to talk directly to Charlie Kirk , and who witnessed the conservative activist's assassination on Wednesday at Utah Valley University, is now speaking out. The New York Times identifies Hunter Kozak, a 29-year-old liberal TikTokker, as the person who was at the mic asking Kirk the last...

Clinic Workers Fired Over 'Disrespectful' TikTok

Urgent care employees in Santa Barbara seen joking about bodily fluids left behind in exam rooms

(Newser) - A group of urgent care workers in California has lost their jobs after a viral TikTok showed them joking about patients' bodily fluids in exam rooms, reports KTLA . The since-deleted video featured photos taken in medical exam rooms at the Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara, along with captions like...

Surefire Signs of a 'Performative Male'

From vinyl records to reading Joan Didion in cafes

(Newser) - Does this sound like you or someone you know? Picture this: a man in wired headphones sipping iced matcha and thumbing through classic feminist literature with a tote bag slung over his shoulder—maybe with a stuffed Labubu clipped to the side. If so, we're not making any allegations...

What Ban? White House Joins TikTok
White House Joins TikTok
Aug 21, 2025 6:29 AM CDT

White House Joins TikTok

Account launches month before deadline for TikTok sale

(Newser) - The White House has officially joined TikTok , launching an account even as the fate of the popular app hangs in the balance. The move comes as Bytedance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, faces a looming Sept. 17 deadline to sell the app to a US buyer or be banned...

Man Arrested After Lighting His Cigarette From Eternal Flame

French officials pursue charges after viral social media incident

(Newser) - When a man lit his cigarette from the eternal flame at Paris's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, he ignited more than just tobacco—he set off a wave of outrage and an official investigation. Now, French Veterans Minister Patricia Miralles is promising to "make an example of...

Cheer Squad's TikTok Skit Leads to Probation

This continues a trend of children arrested over social media posts, particularly in Tennessee

(Newser) - Sixteen middle school cheerleaders in rural East Tennessee found themselves in legal trouble after filming a 45-second TikTok reenactment of a school shooting while waiting for practice to start. The clip, posted online in September, featured the girls pretending to be shot and killed, with one issuing a mock...

WNBA Star Laughs Off Fine Over TikTok Video
WNBA Star
Fined Over
TikTok Video
Jul 24, 2025 4:59 PM CDT

WNBA Star Fined Over TikTok Video

Sophie Cunningham mocked league refs, a sore subject for the league this year

(Newser) - It's been a tough year for WNBA referees—as detailed in an ESPN piece last week—and it appears the league is getting touchy about it. Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham tweeted she's been fined $500 for mocking the refs in a TikTok video, reports the Indianapolis Star ...

'Papa Jake' Larson Was a D-Day Hero and TikTok Star

Veteran combined stories about his comrades with warnings about war

(Newser) - "Papa Jake" Larson, who survived German gunfire on Normandy's bluffs on D-Day as a young man and garnered 1.2 million followers on TikTok late in life by sharing stories about World War II and his fallen comrades, has died. He was 102. Larson died Thursday, his granddaughter...

The 'Gen Z Stare' Is Fueling a Generational Feud

This demographic often says it all without saying a word

(Newser) - It didn't take much to start the internet's latest cultural battle: just a blank stare. The New York Times reports that the "Gen Z stare"—a blank, emotionally unreadable expression often seen in social or work settings—has become a viral phenomenon on TikTok, triggering debates...

Cops: Pakistani Father Kills Daughter Over TikTok Account

It's being investigated as an 'honor' killing

(Newser) - Police in Pakistan say a father shot and killed his 16-year-old daughter—because she refused to delete her TikTok account. The teen's death in the city of Rawalpindi is being investigated as a so-called "honor" killing, reports CBS News . Authorities said the girl's family initially tried...

Inside the Exclusive Club for Amazon's Million-Dollar Sellers

Members of this elite group share tactics, trends, and support

(Newser) - A look inside Amazon's exclusive Million Dollar Sellers community reveals the real secret to thriving in e-commerce might just be the power of connection. Joining MDS means joining a club of around 700 Amazon and e-commerce entrepreneurs, each pulling in over $1 million in annual revenue ( CO...

TikTok Agreement Is Close, Trump Says

China will be brought into talks this week, president says

(Newser) - A deal is nearly in place for an American company to acquire the US operations of TikTok, President Trump said, adding that he expects to bring China into the talks this week. Speaking to reporters Friday night on Air Force One, Trump stated that talks with China to approve...

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